Spend a few days at a luxury rainforest lodge on the Pacific’s Osa Peninsula. Move on into Nicaragua to a boutique lodge on one of over 300 islets. Later, move on to a renowned upmarket lodge and working farm enveloped in jungle on a cliff overlooking a long soft-sand beach. In each place there are opportunities to take excursions into the countryside, engage in outdoor activities or laze by the pool.

The tropical republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua share gorgeous landscapes of volcanoes, lakes, palm-fringed beaches, citrus plantations, fertile slopes smothered in coffee bushes, and a huge diversity of flora and fauna. Costa Rica has long had a network of accessible national parks with extensive hiking trails, as well as adventure activities from zip-lining to white-water rafting. Nicaragua is new to this kind of development but is gaining a reputation for responsible tourism with top-end wellbeing-focused eco-lodges opening all over the country.